ela126

Distilled water is used to clean bronze coins by pulling minerals, specifically salts, from dirt, to break down the “concrete” nature and make it easier to clean. Distilled water is “hungry” as it wants to drink up ions from the minerals to stabilize itself. That being the case, I don’t think it will do much of anything to silver. Unless the silver itself has dirt on it. It shouldn’t effect the toning or silver itself.

What an excellent write up and a beautiful piece. Overall, that is certainly in the top 5% or better of available examples. You should be quite happy with it. I have yet to get one of these great pieces, but I have at least one I’m proud of: Basil 1 - SB 1709 - Constantinople - 7.6g This is a well appreciated coin as it has that great deep green patina. Won a few years ago at a Leu auction. have a Cherson example, sb 1719, as well, but that coin is not a looker.. so much so seems I’ve forgotten to take a picture

this is one of his I got recently. Despite the evenness of color I had acetoned it thoroughly upon receipt, before cleaning. so, about discount all sand patina coins. They might be legit.

Lots of fake sand patina coins come out of Syria, but also directly from European dealers from what I’ve heard. the ones to watch out for are the completely uniform patinas. Either orange, yellow, or white in most cases. These are done by the handful or more at once so it’s a mass production situation. Ones with a variance of patina on one coin, or a dullish patina, likely are original. in the end, acetone or even water quickly remove artificial patina as it breaks the glue down, but do nothing to a real sand patina, which is still a legit thing

Awesome piece! I have a decent handful of Byzantines from Alexandria, Carthage, and possibly, Constantine in Numidia. Heraclius - Carthage - this is a special one because it’s dated Indictional Year 15 (611) Justin II - Nummus - Carthage Constans II - Decanummia - Carthage Maurice Tiberius - Constantine in Numidia Phocas - Carthage Justinian I - siliqua - Carthage Justinian 1 - Follis - Carthage Heraclius - depicting Khusro II - Alexandria Justinian I - 33 nummi - Alexandria

One of my first medievals (which eventually transitioned me to Byzantine) was one of these. At first I thought they were rare, so I overpaid off eBay for a graded example… now I find they’re pretty common. never heard of them having rare types but other than randomly seeing these in auctions, I have little experience. A rare variant is certainly possible.

Certainly valid to exercise caution. Also, I may have introduced some confusion by showing the Roma auction’s real 1878 follis. in this case the CNG half follis is listed as 23mm and 4.67g. The Olympus follis in question as a potential 1880a is 22mm and 4.5g. The die size between these 2 is almost exact. So size is similar, although 1878’s have also been this small. Moreso the focus, beyond the similar smaller size is the very odd 2 column loros, which to my knowledge, no 1878’s or really any coins except the CNG example show. in the end, nothing definitive, but the similar size, and moreso, the seemingly exact unique die of the emperor is why there was the 1880a attribution idea. I think the final determination would be if I consign the coin the CNG and they do attribute it as a 1880a 😉 Thank you for the thoughts and Happy new year!

Appreciate you taking the time to reply @Simon. Happy new year to you as well!

These are somewhat the same thoughts I have, the weight, due to debasement during the period is a very poor indicator and nothing firm can be determined from this as follis weights varied drastically during this period. Many follis (sb 1878) weigh in the 4-5g region. More of where I was “hanging my hat” is on the 2 column loros, from the research I’ve done, which admittedly isn’t thorough, is that this is extremely uncommon, to unheard of, besides the one example sold at CNG, and this coin. That, coupled with the similar weight, is where my belief or idea rests that it could be a half follis. Sadly, no hoard data or provenance is available, so at best, it is an idea. i suppose more of the smoking gun to discount the half follis idea would be if there are heavier weight Follis specimens with the 2 column loros, then this coin would merely be a light weight Follis example.

Last coin of 2023 just arrived. Anastasius 1 - SB 19 - Constantinople. The bold star on the shoulder, E officina and 8 point star on the right of the reverse make this more specifically a DOC 25K example. Overall a nicely worn but bold and pleasing example. I’m guessing the patina may have been stripped a very long time ago, but I’m not positive on that.

Wow, super rare pieces. Thank you for sharing

Recently learned there are no free lunches at Olympus Numismatic’s auction. What had little focus in their first auction had several people jumping on the Byzantine rarities today. Most the coins I had interest in went for far higher than I hoped. One piece which I learned about while researching the coins is the Half Follis for Michael VII. His Follis (sb 1878) is rather commonly seen, however I noticed a piece looking different than most examples, mainly due to 2 columns of dots on the loros instead of 3. Weight was also 4.5g instead of ~7g, but I’m unsure if that could be a real diagnostic here, as flan weights can vary widely and I see weights from 4-8g listed as follis, but with 3 rows on the loros. I found several high priced sales on CNG, many from 15 years ago, but one more recently (2019). My question is: 1. Did the half follis really exist? I see statements saying the final “half follis” was during Michael’s reign. 2. Is the best diagnostic a 2 column loros, with the follis being 3 columns or more? 3. Is it significantly more valuable as the 2019 CNG auction suggests, than the standard Follis? thanks. Olympus auction example, misattributed as a follis? CNG half follis example, with 1880A attribution. Random 1878 follis pulled off acsearch

The Voce Populi and elephant are very popular and valuable American colonial coins. Most certainly got your money just on those 2.

Warren’s website was extremely helpful for quite some time, and is still a reference for certain things such as Antioch coinage, as well as the most through Cherson reference.

Correct on the podcast. Robin’s voice is quite good too so no pain listening.

I started with and stayed with slabbed American, then medieval and for a while slabbed ancients.. good for contemporary coins but not as much for ancients.

Love seeing this and the time you took to put it together. I too have gotten in deep with a Byzantine obsession, without an exact reason of why. If you haven't begun the journey of listening to "History of Byzantium" by Robin Pierson is what truly has kept me hooked. 275 or so podcasts later (Leo 1 through 4th crusade so far), keeps you connected to the emperors and history while you enjoy the coins with them. Do check it out, can't recommend enough. You have excellent taste as it seems you've gotten all high quality pieces, and not just scrambled to check off Sear numbers (i'm slightly guilty here). I especially like your Romanus 1, much as you've already picked. Also a fan of your Cyzicus minted Phocas as @Al Kowsky mentioned. I've found the Cyzicus minted coins to be the most interesting, keep an eye out for them as they always seem to have extra details on them. Keep going, you have an amazing collection here.

For whatever reason the anonymous have been the sector I’ve avoided, although my first 2 Byzantine bronze were the following. I see what some prefer the sand patina’s on these. Tough to photograph!

Is your bid what it shows as the hammer price? i think with their multiday auctions they dont say anything until the final invoice. might be tomorrow or possibly early next week before you see anything.

Thank you all for the kind words.

I was able to track down some interesting provenance on this coin through an email address on the collector tag.

i've seen this brough up a few times on facebook groups. Dealers have said, and i paraphrase: "the PVC flips are much easier on your hands, and after handling hundreds or thousands of coins for photographing, this really matters. PVC flips are well known enough these days that they are not meant for long term storage and should be removed upon reciept by the buyer. A few weeks in the flips shouldn't hurt them"

Feeling a bit lazy these days so my year in review (top 12) is presented in the out of favor Christmas Tree. A very good year for coins in think. Going through my acquisitions I lost count at 81 (1 Greek, 2 medieval, 7 American, ~15 late Roman, and the remainder Byzantine). This is mostly achievable because of my focus on lower cost (but high quality) Byzantine bronze. I think the highlight is a truly stunning Antiochus III Tetradrachm from Brad Bowlin, outside of my collecting expertise but I wanted a good classical piece to highlight the artistic contrast to Byzantine coinage. Two nicer medieval pieces likely close out my interest in western medieval coinage, I would have preferred a true Charlemagne piece but what I found was acceptable. The remainder is Byzantine which has been my focus. High quality bronze pieces will likely continue to be the core of my ancient collection moving forward due to the variety available, and also the pleasure I get from cleaning/restoring them.

As an amatuer (maybe journeyman) coin cleaner, i've been focusing on "rescuing" coins recently. If a coin has a very significant amount of corrosion, or already has meaningful patina damage, i have been repatinating coins, with about a 50% pleasurable success rate. I think giving these coins a chance to be enjoyed again is worthwhile, as long as it is opennly disclosed. My opinion is that artifical sand patina should never applied. This is done to mask defects half the time and unfair to amatuer collectors.

@seth77 Sometimes i do check out some of the medievals myself as well, but mostly for tie ins to my Byzantine collection, nothing serious for me